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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28374369">Scars Born About by Adikia</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nobody425425/pseuds/Nobody425425'>Nobody425425</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:01:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,489</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28374369</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nobody425425/pseuds/Nobody425425</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>your lips my lips (apocalypse) - "scars" challenge</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Scars Born About by Adikia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophiemwrites/gifts">sophiemwrites</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Percy and Annabeth crept through the dark cave carefully. Riptide sparked dimly, the only light that cut through the darkness. He shivered from the cold, wishing that they’d brough coats, “Why are we here again?”<br/>Annabeth kept her focus on the shadows in front of them, “We’re here because Rachel said we need to be here.”<br/>“You’d think she could tell us why.”<br/>“If she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know.”<br/>Percy noticed tiny little etchings in the wall, and he stopped, “What are these?”<br/>They weren’t Greek or Latin or anything else he’d seen before for that matter. Annabeth knelt next to the carvings studying them, “I…I don’t know.”<br/>He raised an eyebrow, “That’s a first for you, wise girl.”<br/>She stood and punched him, “Thanks, seaweed brain.”<br/>They kept going and he noticed more of the strange carvings. Something in the back of his head sparked with recognition, but it escaped him. The cave grew darker reminding him of the house of night. He turned to tell Annabeth and she said, “I know. It’s like the house of night.”<br/>“Do you think…”<br/>Annabeth asked, “Do I think what?”<br/>He bit his lip trying to dig up the memory, “I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it.”<br/>Annabeth glanced at him, “Well, keep thinking about it because I’ve got nothing.”<br/>Percy nodded and swept over the carvings as they passed them. The tunnel seemed to shrink as they went, “Is it just me or is the cave getting smaller?”<br/>“It’s not you. It’s narrowing. We should be near the end.”<br/>“I’m beginning to think that might not be a good thing now.”<br/>“What do you mean?”<br/>A long distant memory struck him. He was sitting on the beach he and his mom used to go to every summer. A wave swept across the beach and he turned finding his mother reading a book reclining on a towel. He tried to move, but his muscles wouldn’t let him. He turned back around and found another wave bearing down on him, but this wave was different from any other wave he’d ever seen. It was pitch black and massive. Something whispered in his ear raspy and calloused, “Percy, do you remember me?”<br/>“Who are you?”<br/>The wave hit him with the force of a train, but his body kept glued to the sand battered by the wave, “You don’t remember me?! I am the closest friend of all demigods and I know you very, very well, Percy.”<br/>He gritted his teeth, “I don’t know you, lady and you’re definitely not my friend.”<br/>“Too many of you don’t think so, but you do.”<br/>The beach was gone, and he was back in the cave with Annabeth. He stumbled breathing heavily, “How long was I out?”<br/>She caught him, “What do you mean? You weren’t out at all. You just stumbled.”<br/>He shook his head, “No, no. I remembered something. It was like a dream.”<br/>“What did you see?”<br/>Percy exhaled, “I was on the beach Sally used to take me to in the summer. I couldn’t move and there was this huge black wave and this lady whispering in my ear.”<br/>“What did she say? Did she tell you who she was?”<br/>“No, she was asking me if I remembered her. She said she was the friend of all demigods.”<br/>He could see Annabeth’s eyebrows narrow thinking, “Philotes is the goddess of friendship, but I don’t know any god specifically a friend to demigods.”<br/>“I don’t know, but I don’t like this, Annabeth.”<br/>There was a roar behind them, and the stone came crumbling down behind them. She tugged him to his feet, “Looks like we don’t get a choice.”<br/>They ran desperately from the collapsing tunnel and the rumbling grew louder. Right when he thought they’d be crushed, it stopped. Percy sighed, “Whoever she is, she sure wants us dead.”<br/>Annabeth examined markings on the floor, “That narrows it down to about a trillion beings.”<br/>“She was a goddess. I know that. Her aura couldn’t have been anything else.”<br/>“Scratch that. It’s down to a billion beings.”<br/>He pushed forward noticing the tunnel came to an end and there was writing on the wall, this in Greek so he could read it easily, “Αδικια.”<br/>“Annabeth, look at this.”<br/>She joined him and read the inscription, “Αδικια, injustice.”<br/>Percy kicked the wall in frustration, “This whole thing feels like an injustice.”<br/>The voice laughed bitterly, “You know not what you say for this is no mere injustice, this is the injustice.”<br/>Percy spun around coming up empty, “Come out, come out wherever you are, you crazy lady.”<br/>Annabeth held her dagger ready at her side, “Is there a goddess of injustice?”<br/>“You’re asking me?”<br/>“She’s from your memory.”<br/>“I guess. I don’t know. Maybe.”<br/>The voice whispered, “Yes, I am the goddess of injustice. I am Adikia!”<br/>Annabeth’s jaw tightened, “What do you want from us?”<br/>Percy swept his sword around the small cave. The goddess hissed, “Your sword is an ancient and powerful one, but its glimmer will not save you.”<br/>Shadows wrapped themselves around his arm and he dropped Riptide in surprise. He tried to grab it, but it was gone, and they were enveloped in darkness. He growled, “What did you do with my sword?!”<br/>“I have taken it.”<br/>“Well, then give it back before I take it back.”<br/>He reached for the ocean, but it felt out of his grasp. “The ocean will not save you either, son of Poseidon.”<br/>Annabeth slipped her hand into his, “We still haven’t heard what you want from us.”<br/>“I want only to deliver on my duty.”<br/>Percy felt the air in front of him disturbed and he swung a punch. It passed through the air without hitting anything and Annabeth’s hand went limp, “Wise girl?<br/>The darkness was burned away, and they were left standing on a flat stone that stretched farther than he could see. A figure stood above them holding a scales, “Breathe easy. Adikia is gone.”<br/>Percy stood in front of Annabeth, “Who are you?!”<br/>The woman glided down, “I am Dike, goddess of justice.”<br/>The goddess made no threatening moves, so he turned back to Annabeth, “What’s wrong with her?”<br/>Dike said, “Adikia has chosen the two of you.”<br/>“For what?”<br/>The goddess appeared beside him, “For her injustice.”<br/>Dike held her fingers up and Annabeth twisted around sitting upright, revealing the scar. It ran down her back, but no blood flowed from it. Percy asked, “Why isn’t she bleeding?”<br/>“Because the επιλογή hasn’t been made yet.”<br/>Choice, he realized, “What choice?”<br/>“The choice between the scar and the tattoo.”<br/>“What tattoo? What are you talking about?!”<br/>“Look to yourself, Perseus.”<br/>He looked down at his arms and found markings burned into his skin like the ones engraved in the cave walls. He took off his shirt and found the same markings, “What are they?”<br/>“It is her reminder.”<br/>He glared at the goddess, “I don’t care about the tattoo. You need to help Annabeth.”<br/>“It’s not so simple. I cannot help you. I am not the friend of the demigods, only Adikia is. I can only let you make your choice.”<br/>“So, what do I have to choose?”<br/>“You can choose to keep the tattoo and let Annabeth keep the scar or you can take the scar and give the tattoo to Annabeth.”<br/>“What do the scar and the tattoo do?”<br/>“The tattoo, it only serves to remind, but the scar, it kills.”<br/>Percy’s lip quivered and he touched the scar, “If I don’t take it, she dies?”<br/>“Yes.”<br/>“Then I’ll take it.”<br/>“It is done. Farewell.”<br/>The goddess disappeared and the scar on Annabeth’s back was replaced by the tattoo. She coughed, “Percy?”<br/>He looked down and the tattoo was gone from his skin. He felt a searing pain in his back, and he fell to the side. Annabeth said, “Percy, what’s wrong?!”<br/>Percy touched his back feeling the scar and the blood, “Sorry, wise girl.”<br/>He felt her hands touch his scar, “No, no. Don’t do this, seaweed brain. I’ll get some ambrosia and some nectar.”<br/>“It won’t work.”<br/>He heard her rustle through her bag, and she rolled him over, “What are you talking about?”<br/>He touched her cheek, “I made my choice and I’m sorry, but I did.”<br/>Tears filled her eyes, “I don’t understand.”<br/>“You would’ve died…I had to.”<br/>Everything seemed to fade away from him and he heard Adikia’s voice, “I am the closest friend to demigods because I am injustice and demigods know injustice better than anyone. Take my blessing with pride for it is both my reminder to you and to all demigods. They can never forget and that is my duty. I carry it out not as joyful pastime, rather as unsavory but necessary task. These are the scars born about my Adikia.”</p>
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